Forum Post: Co-opting and the Utter Rejection of Any Candidate Support or Party Endorsement

by Ryan Rice

Last week members of Occupy Los Angeles sat in on a City Council meeting on the 3rd floor of the City Hall building. Outside, hundreds of tents surrounded the structure in what has now become a tent city. We were sitting in the chambers to address our personal reasons for occupying and petition the council to support a resolution in favor of the Occupy Movement.

I, as an individual, refuse to accept their resolution or endorsement in any way. I do this because I recognize the system is utterly broken. We can no longer look to a politician or party to help us out of this mess of failed economic policy and destructive values. I thanked President Obama on our livestream yesterday for his utterly magnificent failure in leading this nation out of its economic and sociological woes. The ongoing recession is digging in and many say will transform into a depression worse than the 1930s. There are more troops killing and being killed in Afghanistan than when Obama came into office. His staff is sourced directly from Wall Street itself and the stimulus he has instituted inflated the pockets of the ruling oligarchy and created a 'jobless recovery'. He has unleashed the Deptartment of Justice to shut down all medical marijuana dispensaries despite his own words and the science and facts behind the substance. He refused to issue an immediate moratorium on the death penalty, despite overwhelming doubt and mounting evidence that Troy Davis and others have been murdered as innocent men and women. He failed spectacularly in instituting real health care reform, not pushing a single-payer platform when he had the power and instead placating big Pharma, the AMA, and the multitude of profit-driven special interests in Washington that have his ear. So thank you Mr. Obama. I began this piece discussing City Hall and the City Council. I would like to thank them as well. I would like to thank them for their incomprehensibly stupid scheduling that allowed my eyes to be open to the severity of the problem of politics and business interest. Right before we began telling our individual stories, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce was giving them "advice" and "information" on how to help pull the city out of the economic slump.

Right in front of my eyes was the manifestation of all we are fighting for. Incredulous, I watched as the President of the Chamber of Commerce argued that phasing out the gross receipts tax on corporations and businesses would somehow generate millions in more revenue and many more jobs for Angelenos. When asked how cutting revenues for the city would do this, the spokesperson stammered something about a PhD's findings and said he'll look into it.

This is why we reject and and all political and party support. From anyone. They see this movement as something to co-opt, something to gain points with for the upcoming election. But they also thank the snakes in suits who represent the business community that give them their reports. They willingly move to use public funds to pay for business interests, exposing the risk to the citizenry while privatizing any and ALL profits from these poisonous endeavors.

So I have thanked politicians for showing their colors. I have thanked them for their doubletalk and backroom handshakes. I have thanked them for their lies and their failures. I thank them because I know this works to empower and awaken Americans and citizens across the planet. Their corruption galvanizes us - the people. It won't be the last time I smirk at the absurdity of a politician's outstretched hand. I call on you to reject that false hope and deceitful rhetoric with me. Power to the People!